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Should Calvin Johnson have his number retired by Georgia Tech?

  • Yes

    Votes: 51 49.0%
  • No

    Votes: 53 51.0%

  • Total voters
    104

TooTall

Helluva Engineer
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Vidalia
So I hesitated to put this up, but on the White Out night against Miami, GT is honoring Calvin Johnson. Will this simply be adding his name to the ring of honor or will there be a jersey/number retirement? Blood in the water, attack...
 
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Location
Augusta, GA
I doubt that Tech ever retires another jersey. The fact that only one has ever been retired (Clint Castleberry) is unique among colleges which seem to retire anybody's jersey for sometimes meaningless reasons....for example, the mutts retired Theron Sapp's jersey, because he scored the TD that ended the "drought" against Tech in 1957. WOW. Calvin was obviously great, but Castleberry was special. Let's leave it that way.
 

TooTall

Helluva Engineer
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Vidalia
No denying the Castleberry is unique, but there is plenty of room on the top of the mountain for a student-athlete like Johnson. I would hold off until he finishes up his degree. We all know how much of an inferiority complex the leg humpers have, but retiring CJ's 21 is not even comparable to that example. Who among us would not like to have CJ as a son or son-in-law? Is he perfect, I'm sure he's not. But once his degree is finished, there is nothing more for him to accomplish. He is in the Ga Tech HoF, College Football HoF and will be in the Pro Football HoF. Below is the requirements for retiring one's jersey. Once that degree is earned, there's no reason not to.

6. Nominees must meet the following criteria to allow a nomination to be submitted to the committee:

– Nominee must have received a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech. (In Process)

– Nominee must have accomplished ONE of the following …

– Earned a National Player of the Year award recognized by the NCAA

– Earned a National Award (e.g. – Biletnikoff Award, Davey O’Brien Award) recognized by the NCAA (CHECK)

– Earned a First-Team All-America designation by an organization recognized by the NCAA AND, (CHECK)

– his/her team must have won a national championship AND,

– he/she was named Outstanding Player of the national championship event (e.g. – Final Four MVP).

– Nominee must have represented and continue to represent Georgia Tech in the highest possible manner in all endeavors within sports as well as his/her personal life. (CHECK)
 

dtm1997

Helluva Engineer
Featured Member
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15,409
Won't happen. If you retire 21, you have to retire 14. Then there will be calls for 18, and so on...

It's cool that we only have one number retired.

I'm ultimately a modern era GT football fan from when I started at GT, but if Joe Ham's number isn't the next number retired, before Calvin Johnson's, quite frankly, then no other numbers need to be retired yet.
 

TooTall

Helluva Engineer
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2,952
Location
Vidalia
I'm ultimately a modern era GT football fan from when I started at GT, but if Joe Ham's number isn't the next number retired, before Calvin Johnson's, quite frankly, then no other numbers need to be retired yet.
I'd vote for that! Having a jersey retired shouldn't be an untouchable thing. Agreed that it should be heavily limited, but having a jersey retired should be an attainable goal.
We complain about the Hill mentality, yet it seems there is a lot of the same mentality here. "Never, ever, under any circumstance"
 

GSOJacket

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
237
Would you want to retire his number for what accomplished at Tech or as a pro athlete (for which he'll be rewarded by early entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame)? If the former, there are others who have contributed more while at Tech. My preference would be to avoid retiring another football jersey number. Clint Castleberry was unique and honoring him this way helps set Tech apart.
 

FightWinDrink

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,268
If we retired numbers for accolades then I would be all for it but I like the story behind our 1 retired number. I think 21 will just be synonymous with Calvin and be one of those numbers players should be proud to get to wear when they suit up for us. Legendary player but we just don't do it here. Name on the stadium will be great though.
 

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
Messages
14,027
The only retired # in GT history: 19

Clint+Castleberry.jpg


275bd10c7b874fd8ce2155535895adc7.1500
 

Jophish17

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
440
Count me in the pool that agrees we should not retire numbers beyond Castleberry. I too think Joe Ham is more deserving if we did start to retire numbers.

I'm glad the number retiring criteria includes a degree requirement.
 
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